Midday Report: Macy's, Kohl's Tumble; Retail Selloff Weighs on Wall Street

U.S. stocks sink into the red on Thursday as disappointing holiday sales tank retail names.

Author:: Keris Alison Lahiff
Publish date:: Jan 5, 2017 12:07 PM EST

Stocks sank into the red on Thursday as disappointing holiday sales tanked retail names. On the frontlines, Macy's (M) - Get Report slumped after citing declining traffic at its top stores, and Kohl's (KSS) - Get Report tumbled after reducing its full-year outlook.

The two retailers' poor performance bled into the rest of the retail space. Store chains including Target (TGT) - Get Report , J.C. Penney (JCP) - Get Report and Nordstrom (JWN) - Get Report each sold off.

Sears (SHLD) was one of the few retailers in the green. Its shares jumped after Stanley Black& Decker (SWK) - Get Report announced it would acquire Sears' Craftsman tool brand. The deal is worth a total $900 million.

Crude oil gave back the morning's gains as a weekly read on inventories showed a major spike in gasoline and distillates stocks. On the plus side, U.S. crude inventories did see a major drawdown.